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Volume III. No. 3 July 1943

Answers, Page 269

Answers
THREE-MASTED SCHOONERS. There is a
portrait of the May, mentioned in the
January 1943 issue of THE AMERICAN
NEPTUNE (III, 86), in the first volume of
Robinson and Dow, The Sailing Ships of
New England (Salem, 1922).
JOHN LYMAN
11. STAYSAILS. The names of the staysails
on the mainmast of a brigantine are
given by Paasch 1 as main staysail, middle
staysail, main topmast staysail and main top ­gallant
staysail. Evidently the St. Michael
also carried a main royal staysail. Lub­bock 2
uses the term cap staysail instead
of middle staysail for the sail set on the
stay leading forward from the lower
mast-head. JOHN LYMAN
36. SIGNAL BOOKS. The New York Pub­lic
Library has a complete file of Lloyd's
Registers dating from 1842-1843.
R. DE KERCHOVE
41. LIGHTNING RODS. Some years ago
while searching for materials relating to
the career of the Continental frigate
Randolph, I found in the Papers of the
Continental Congress 8 a letter dated 6
August 1777 from Captain Nicholas
Biddle stating 'the frigate Randolph ...
was twice struck with Ligh'tning & her
Mainmast Shattered each time. A con­ductor
is since fixed to the Mainmast.'
So far as I am aware this is the first re­corded
instance of a lightning rod being
used on board an American vessel. Prob­ably
there were others earlier for Benja­min
Franklin was not one to hide his
light under a bushel. Just how it was
made, Biddle does not say but as Biddle
was acquainted with the inventor it may
have followed Franklin's directions. We
do have a record that the device was not
very effective for on 1 September 1777
Biddle wrote 'Since I wrote my last
letter . . . I had another Main mast
Split with Lightning.' 4 Whether Biddle
1 From Keel to Truck (Antwerp, 1885).
2 The Last of the Windjammers (Glasgow,
1927), I, 502.
3 Volume 78: 7: 117.
4 P. C. C. 78: 7: 237.
Paul Revere's Bill for a lightning conductor for U.S. frigate Essex
Peabody Museum of Salem: Papers of Captain Joseph Waters
269

Articles include: The Trans-Pacific Venture of James J. Hill: A History of the Great Northern Steamship Company by W. Kaye Lamb; Signal Systems and Ship Identification by M. V. Brewington; The Journal of Voyages of the Brig Venus and the Schooner Louisiana in 1806 by George Barrell, edited by E. Lee Dorsett; and Cathcart's Journal and the Search for Naval Timbers by Bess Glenn. Additional items include Notes, Documents, News, Answers, and Book Reviews.

Answers
THREE-MASTED SCHOONERS. There is a
portrait of the May, mentioned in the
January 1943 issue of THE AMERICAN
NEPTUNE (III, 86), in the first volume of
Robinson and Dow, The Sailing Ships of
New England (Salem, 1922).
JOHN LYMAN
11. STAYSAILS. The names of the staysails
on the mainmast of a brigantine are
given by Paasch 1 as main staysail, middle
staysail, main topmast staysail and main top ­gallant
staysail. Evidently the St. Michael
also carried a main royal staysail. Lub­bock 2
uses the term cap staysail instead
of middle staysail for the sail set on the
stay leading forward from the lower
mast-head. JOHN LYMAN
36. SIGNAL BOOKS. The New York Pub­lic
Library has a complete file of Lloyd's
Registers dating from 1842-1843.
R. DE KERCHOVE
41. LIGHTNING RODS. Some years ago
while searching for materials relating to
the career of the Continental frigate
Randolph, I found in the Papers of the
Continental Congress 8 a letter dated 6
August 1777 from Captain Nicholas
Biddle stating 'the frigate Randolph ...
was twice struck with Ligh'tning & her
Mainmast Shattered each time. A con­ductor
is since fixed to the Mainmast.'
So far as I am aware this is the first re­corded
instance of a lightning rod being
used on board an American vessel. Prob­ably
there were others earlier for Benja­min
Franklin was not one to hide his
light under a bushel. Just how it was
made, Biddle does not say but as Biddle
was acquainted with the inventor it may
have followed Franklin's directions. We
do have a record that the device was not
very effective for on 1 September 1777
Biddle wrote 'Since I wrote my last
letter . . . I had another Main mast
Split with Lightning.' 4 Whether Biddle
1 From Keel to Truck (Antwerp, 1885).
2 The Last of the Windjammers (Glasgow,
1927), I, 502.
3 Volume 78: 7: 117.
4 P. C. C. 78: 7: 237.
Paul Revere's Bill for a lightning conductor for U.S. frigate Essex
Peabody Museum of Salem: Papers of Captain Joseph Waters
269